Writer's Block

Hiding in plain sight

Sometimes I get a little nervous trying to imagine all the significant news stories happening out there that we don't know about. Trouble is, we're not psychic, and people don't always tell us what's going on. The best we can do is try to keep an ear to the ground, talk to people on the beat we're covering, and make a list of places to check for news on a regular basis.

But you can make yourself crazy. When I came back to work at the beginning of the year, I vowed I wasn't going to let anything slip through the cracks. I was checking every agenda, and trying to think of every document or report the county could be generating on a regular basis that I could check for news. I even took to reading the dozens of building permit forms filed every day to look for big projects.

Then I actually got a story to write and it all fell apart. I just didn't have the extra hours it took every day to make all those checks.

It can be frustrating for me to learn of something that's newsworthy after-the-fact. Mainly, I feel like an idiot for missing it in the first place. Last week I attended the monthly Salary Commission meeting (I now attend them regularly, even if nothing seems to be happening, since one year the commission awarded raises to county directors and I missed it). The meeting included a presentation by the county finance director on the status of the county's budget. It wasn't good news. Revenues were down, and expenses were up. And, oh by the way, the mayor asked all her directors to cut 16 percent from their budgets for the current year. A month ago.

Wha? And nobody told me?

I requested a copy of the mayor's memo to her directors, and not only was it true, it went even farther. In addition to ordering all her directors to cut spending by 16 percent, the mayor outlined a number of specific cost-saving restrictions, including limiting out-of-state travel, major equipment purchases, and contracts for professional services.

I think I was able to do a pretty good story. Since the order was made in October, I could talk with directors about how they had responded already.

Still, I would have liked to have the story a month ago!